Convert General Legal Council into Council for Legal Education - Ansa-Asare
The Rector of Mountcrest University College (MUC), Mr Kwaku Ansa-Asare, has called for the conversion of the General Legal Council (GLC) into a National Council for Legal Education (NCLE), a body that would have oversight responsibility for legal education in the country.
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“The General Legal Council was set up under Section One of the Legal Profession Act, 1960 (Act 32). Act 32 was passed when the 1960 Constitution was in force but under the 1992 Constitution, some of the restrictions that are contained in Act 32 are inconsistent with the 1992 Constitution,” he explained.
He has also called on both the Cabinet and Parliament to pass the Ghana Law School (GLS) Bill that had been pending since 2003 into a law to give legal backing to the establishment of the law school.
Mr Ansa-Asare, a former Director of Legal Education at the Ghana School of Law (GSL), who made the call when he addressed the second congregation of MUC last Saturday, said the GLC was substantially composed of judges of the Supreme Court, some of whom lacked knowledge of legal education.
The congregation was organised for 198 students who studied at the MUC between 2011 and 2016 and graduated with Bachelor’s degree in Law (LLB).
Need for NCLE
Mr Ansa-Asare said the GSL ought to be administered by the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) but if the GBA was not equipped enough to perform that role, it was proper to establish the NCLE to boost legal education in the country.
“As it is now, the judges who constitute the Ghana School of Law determine how many students are to be admitted to the GLS and the number of lawyers the country must produce every year. This is a prerogative of the GBA. But if the GBA is not equipped to administer legal education in the country, then we should begin to look at the NCLE which must be insulated from government control,” he indicated.
Expansion of GLS
The former GSL Director bemoaned the bureaucratic processes and limited vacancies available for LLB holders who wished to enrol in the GSL to train as professional lawyers and called for the expansion of the GSL to admit more of such students.
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“In an era where privatisation has taken centre stage in the country’s planning processes, it should be possible to obtain private funding to expand infrastructural facilities for the GSL. Private investors have to be persuaded to invest in projects that will enhance legal education,” he said.
Background
The Law Department which was started in the University College (now University of Ghana) in 1959 remained the only law faculty until 2003 when a second faculty was introduced at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
There has since been an increase in the number of law faculties in some public and private universities with MUC being the first private university to introduce a law faculty in 2011. The increase in the number of law faculties has therefore put more pressure on the GSL, which is the only professional law training institution in the country.
Alternatives
In a speech read on his behalf, the Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Professor William Otoo Ellis, urged LLB holders to venture into other fields that required their expertise.
He said their background in law made them versatile enough to fit into other fields so they should not get frustrated when they were unable to gain entry into the GSL.